“What the president is doing now is an incremental policy leading toward de jure independence,” he said.
Ma said the Bush administration was unwise to accept Chen’s decision on the unification council with only a mild reaction.
But Ma, citing his training as a lawyer, said the Chinese word Chen used in fact means “terminate,” which does imply a change in the status quo. In addition, he said, no matter what the language, Chen’s decision to stand up and announce the end of an official symbol of willingness to get along with China amounted to provocation.
“The U.S. side looks a little gullible,” he said.[/quote]
Ma was standing up for CSB and the omission of the title ‘president’ when US State Department Deputy spokesman Adam Ereli referred to him in the slap heard across the Pacific, over the incident where the USA claimed to have a better command of the Chinese language than CSB.
[quote=“ac_dropout”]Ma was standing up for CSB and the omission of the title ‘president’ when US State Department Deputy spokesman Adam Ereli referred to him in the slap heard across the Pacific, over the incident where the USA claimed to have a better command of the Chinese language than CSB.
I’d like to CSB stand up for a WSR on Taiwan.[/quote]
And wasn’t that touching!
I had tears in my eyes – I really did.
Ma Ying-jeou lectures the U.S. for not calling CSB “president” when his own party is still in court over the legitimacy of the 2004 election.
[quote=“STOP_Ma”]
Ma is painting his own demise. All he has to do is open his mouth.
I say let him speak…
…let him talk as much as possible.[/quote]
Just to be clear on this, if Ma continues to do well, perhaps even winning the 2008 presidency… you’ll accept this as popular endorsement of his position towards China?
[quote=“cctang”]
Just to be clear on this, if Ma continues to do well, perhaps even winning the 2008 presidency… you’ll accept this as popular endorsement of his position towards China?[/quote]
Not necessarily. If he waffles about his position on China (and is not pinned down on the issue by the pan-green candidate), the electorate may not know WHAT his real position on China is. He’s been successfully doing that for quite awhile now.
My guess is that he won’t be able to do this come the 2008 campaign season. He doesn’t seem to be too quick on his feet when faced with confrontation. I believe by the time people go to the polls, the people will see that he is a man with no vision. And unlike what others believe in this forum – I am of the opinion that the Taiwanese do, indeed, have critical thinking skills.
So, if we do get a concrete substantive position from Ma with respect to China that isn’t full of contradictions and half-answers, and he wins the presidency – well then, it will be a popular endorsement.
Isn’t that the key trait to a crediable status quo supporter. Why fault him on a strength that will allow him to lead Taiwan without a direct confrontation with the PRC on the issue.
Isn’t CSB limitation as a leader is that everyone knows exactly what his intentions are on the Strait Issue, thus everyone can plan way in advance, thereby preventing him from forwarding any ROC interest with USA or PRC.
To be quite honest Ma doesn’t need to convince you, I would hardly consider you the normal profile of a John Q Public in Taiwan.
Perhaps the majority of Taiwan are not interested in a direct confrontation with PRC as you seem so keen on. Which is why Ma seems so appealing at this time.
I don’t think STOP_Ma is ready to contenance a Ma victory. People talk about the excessive reaction of the pan-Blues after 2004, where the winning margin was miniscule and when many had lingering doubt for months. Well, I think we haven’t seen anything yet. When the pan-Greens next lose an election at that level to someone like Ma and if it is close, I think the sizeable nutjob elements among them will really flip out, and I mean, really flip out; possibly going terrorist.
This is from the reaction I see from the deep-green nutjobs pre-election in 2004, when they basically said, if they didn’t win that election, they’d be taken over by PRC in a year and they will have no more elections. And consider what they tried to pull off at the airport during the Lien trip to the mainland. Pan-Greens are chafing for a fight.
In a sense, much of this is an indicator of how desperate the Blues are getting. Absolutely the only candidate they have that can do anything is Ma. If Ma had a heart attack while out running, that would signal the end of the KMT.
And the likelihood is that even he will not win in 2008.
Does that mean the Greens are even more desperate? Because they have absolutely zero candidates who can do anything. My math says the Blues are doing infinitely better.
[quote=“zarathustra”]In a sense, much of this is an indicator of how desperate the Blues are getting. Absolutely the only candidate they have that can do anything is Ma. If Ma had a heart attack while out running, that would signal the end of the KMT.
And the likelihood is that even he will not win in 2008.[/quote]Personally, I think it’s most likely that Taiwan will be destroyed by a sea-based dinosaur/monster in 2007.
But hey, I hear any $sshole can have an unsubstantiated opinion, these days.
Then all the underground KMT radio stations and text messaging centers would spread to news of the pan-Green conspiracy to assassinate Ma. There would be an overwhelming outpour of sympathy votes for Ma.
He would claim victory the next day jogging in the streets. There would be no need for a recount because the margin of victory would exceed 20%…
he’s probably loathe to do that given what happened when he tried to spur a murderous KMT mob into a round of the flag raising song outside KMT headquarters a few years back.
The greens may just win in 2008; they’re very good at winning, seemingly by chance, previously thought “unwinnable” elections, at least presidential elections. But in any case, no matter who wins, their supporters will triumph “the will of the people”, while the losers will say the Taiwanese people “have been duped,” “have been brainwashed,” “are stupid,” etc. That, at least, you can be sure of.
Yes, this fits the stereotype. Green supporters are unruly, low-class, ignorant, “nutjobs” etc. But where is the evidence that Green supporters are any more violent than Blues? Look at reality. Post-election disorder in both 2000 and 2004 came entirely from the Blues. The one presidential election that the DPP lost, in 1996, had no similar fallout. Same goes for the most recent election. The Greens reacted to their shellacking with internal bickering and backstabbing, as well as with “mea culpas” and even a fair amount of introspection. But no violence. In 2004, Green supporters showed remarkble restraint in the face of provocative, sometimes violent demonstrations that disrupted life in Taipei for days, with live 24-hour TV coverage that gave extreme hard-Blue demagogues a platform for sensational, evidence-free accusations day after day. I was surprised by the lack of any significant counter-protests. (Though I do recall individual Chen defenders being beaten bloody by the mob on camera.)
Yes, this fits the stereotype. Green supporters are unruly, low-class, ignorant, “nutjobs” etc. But where is the evidence that Green supporters are any more violent than Blues? Look at reality. Post-election disorder in both 2000 and 2004 came entirely from the Blues. The one presidential election that the DPP lost, in 1996, had no similar fallout. Same goes for the most recent election. The Greens reacted to their shellacking with internal bickering and backstabbing, as well as with “mea culpas” and even a fair amount of introspection. But no violence. In 2004, Green supporters showed remarkble restraint in the face of provocative, sometimes violent demonstrations that disrupted life in Taipei for days, with live 24-hour TV coverage that gave extreme hard-Blue demagogues a platform for sensational, evidence-free accusations day after day. I was surprised by the lack of any significant counter-protests. (Though I do recall individual Chen defenders being beaten bloody by the mob on camera.)[/quote]
